Perfection
by Dr. Breifs Cat
Summary: A rather happy and optomistic Ken talks about the age old lesson he has learned.


Perfection

**Perfection**

If nothing else, I've learned something from this whole ordeal.Something most people learn when they are young, but perhaps I'm slower than most.

Remind me never to try to make a joke again.

I learned no one is perfect.Strange lesson, is it not?You become a tool, you're best friend dies in your arms, you face the one who used you, you face the truth about how you perceive people, both others and yourself, and you learn that no one is perfect.

And then it's that cliched revelation that helps you understand you must move on with your life.

I could go on about how I placed my brother on a pedestal, how I deemed him perfection and how my jealousy caused me to think things I rather would not have.I could go on about how I replaced the figure on the pedestal with myself and how I believed, in some sort of superficial substitution sort of way, that I was the true perfection.I could go on about how I placed another boy atop the vacant platform, because I needed someone to look up to and I needed someone to save me and needed someone to catch me when I fell and needed someone period because I'd never had someone before.

But I won't go on about any of those things.Because my brother wasn't perfect, he was human, just like me.Also far from perfect.Flawed creatures, we mere morals.And that last occupant for the slot of 'Ichijouji Ken's Hero,' he's not perfect either.Heroes don't always come through, you know.It may leave you crying, confused and scared in the back of a stranger's truck with children--innocents, more _innocents--who are going to get hurt because of you, but you learn that heroes aren't really real.Because you expect your hero to be perfect and there when you need him and someday he won't.And the world comes crashing down around you and all you can think is 'Where are you, hero?Why haven't you saved me?Why haven't you made everything perfect like you always do?'_

You expect heroes to be perfect.But they aren't.They're human, just like you, and therefore flawed.

So he came off the pedestal and away from the slot I had marked 'Hero' and moved to the one marked 'Friend.'

Friends are better than heroes, you see.No one expects their friends to be perfect.Friends make mistakes all the time and they are people you laugh with and smile with and make you feel welcome and _good all over, like you __are meant to be here and you __do deserve it._

And the best part about friends is they don't need to be heroes.They don't need to care your world on their shoulders, because if there is a lot of them, they all help bear the weight.And you realize that you can help, too.

And you finally understand, you have to help because they can't do it without you.Because they aren't perfect and you aren't perfect, but if you add everyone together then you all the best and worst of everyone to balance everything out.

And you can believe and understand and now when your eyes sparkle with unshed tears, they are _happy tears.Even when you're so scared you're shaking when you place your hand on your __friend's arm to let him know you're going to stand by him, because you understand.You understand you're forgiven.And you finally understand __why.And you know, we're all in this together._

And you find breathing a little easier, and in the end you just have to smile when you see someone distraught because you finally understand why she cares so much about you.And you know, as long as you remember what you've learned, everything will be all right._Really._

Have I been saying 'you?'

I meant 'I.'

It was my lesson, after all.

No one's perfect.Not Osamu.Not me.Not Daisuke.

And no _one is the hero, __we're all a team. _

The cruel things I've done in the past won't ever leave me, but I have to move on with my life.I know I've said that before, but this time I mean it.My pain is in my past and I'm looking forward to my future, with all of you with me.Wormmon, I understand now, why you stood by me.Daisuke, I understand now, why you forgave me.Miyako-san, I understand now, how it is that you make me laugh.Hikari-san, I understand now, why you helped me.Takeru-san, I understand now, you're simple gestures.Iori-san, I understand now, why you accepted me.

And not a single one of them is perfect, but we can all be flawed together.

Because, you know, no one is perfect. 

*~*~*~*

Disclaimers:The usual, nothing owned by yours truly.

Author Notes:Why lookie here, I've gone back to my roots of obscenely short wandering fics.How I've missed the trip into a character's head.


End file.
